Detent and aligning means for selective rotary print wheel



28, 1957 N. T. MCFARLAND ETAL 3,306,192

DETENT AND ALIGNING MEANS FOR SELECTIVE ROTARY PRINT WHEEL Filed Sept. 23, 1964 United States Patent 3,306,192 DETENT AND ALIGNING MEANS FOR SELEC- TiVE ROTARY PRINT WHEEL Norman T. McFariand, Mayview, and Leonid Kripak,

Villa Park, 11]., assignors to Marvin Glass & Associates,

Chicago, 111., a partnership Filed Sept. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 398,615 1 Claim. (Cl. 101-108) The present invention relates to a stamping device or set which is capable of making patterns and pictures including predetermined designs and embodying a plurality of colors, and is particularly intended and adapted to serve the purpose of an educational and amusement device, the use of which will tend to familarize the users with the various geometrical forms, such as triangles, rectangles, circles, etc., and also with the manipulation of simple mechanical devices. It will also serve to whet the imagination as the user exercises the latter in seiecting the figures to put together in making a design, and the object of the invention is to provide a stamping set whereby a child might use a plurality of different designs to produce a more or less abstract picture.

The equipment necessary to practice the invention is fully described in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the set of stamping equipment;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the stamper unit aione; and

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view of the stamper unit taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

Similar reference characters have been applied to the same parts wherever they occur throughout the drawings and specification.

As seen in FIGURE 1 the outfit includes a stamper unit 4 and a stamp or inking pad unit 6 having a plurality of inking pads 8, 16, 12, etc., which may and preferably do contain ink of different colors. It is to be understood that pad unit 6 may have a large number of pads in addition to the pads 8, 19, and 12, shown, so that the number of available colors may be adequate, and preferably one of the pads will be prepared as a cleaning pad and adapted to remove any ink from stamp 4 which remains from a previous operation.

Ink pad unit 6 has channel or track members as 14, 15, and 16 which extend across between the different colored pads 8, etc., and are fixed in position on the unit for a purpose to appear.

Stamper unit 4 includes an outer housing 18 having a head or upper wall 28 to which are attached spaced depending walls 22 and 24. Side wall 22 opens out into a pair of legs 26 and 28 and side wall 24 similarly has legs 30 and 32, with the four legs forming a lower base portion which may fit into and cooperate with adjacent pairs of channels 14, and 16 on pad unit 6 in properly positioning the stamper for inking. Then too, these legs provide a wide and stable base for the stamper while it is in use.

Within housing 18 is a yoke-like frame 34 which has a head or upper wall 36 and side Walls 38 and 40, the parts being dimensioned so that frame 34 may slide freely up and down in housing 18. A printing wheel 42 is rotatably supported within frame 34 and has printing faces as 44 arranged in sequence on its periphery, each carrying a rubber-like printing character as 46. Whichever of these characters happens to be down or at the lowest position on wheel 42 may come in contact with the surface on which housing 18 is standing by a bodily downward movement of frame 34 and wheel 42 within the housing 18.

It is contemplated that characters 46 may be formed 3,306,192 Patented Feb. 28, 1967 as an endless belt which can be removed from wheel 42 and replaced by another having a different set of characters, whereby to increase the number of characters which stamper unit 4 may print. Alternately, the characters 46 may be molded integrally with the wheel 42 and a plurality of different wheels may be made available.

Upper wall 20 of housing 18 has a sleeve 48 within which is recipiprocable the hub portion 50 of a knob or handle 52. Knob 52 is fixed by means of a screw 54 to an upwardly directed shank 56, fixed to or forming part of upper wall 36 of frame 34. A spring 58 is disposed about shank 56 within sleeve 48, and compressed between hub 50 and wall 20 to urge frame 34 to its uppermost position, as seen in FIGURE 3. Downward pressure on knob 52 will therefore compress spring 58 and cause downward movement of frame 34 and wheel 42, so that the lowermost character 46 may extend to or below the level of the lowermost portion of legs 26, 28, 30 and 32. In this way said lowermost character may be inked and printed.

Wheel 42 is rotated or indexed by means of a knob or dial 6%) which is disposed outside of housing 18 and has a hub 62 journaled in a suitable bearing opening in wall 38 of frame 34. A shaft portion 64 extends coaxially from hub 62 and is journaled in a suitable bearing opening in wall 40. A key 66 extends along shaft 64 from hub 62 and a hub 68 is fitted about shaft 64 and key 66, and forms a part of wheel 42. Hub 62, shaft 64 and key 66 may be integral or otherwise fixed together in any suitable manner so that wheel 42 and dial are connected to turn dependently with each other. Thus wheel 42 and dial 60 will remain in fixed relation with each other so that if one turns, so must the other.

Dial 66 has a plurality of faces 70 which correspond with the printing faces 44 on wheel 42, and each carries a figure or character corresponding to one of the figures on the printing faces, said figures being arranged in the same sequence as those on the wheel 42. In the device illustrated, each of the printing characters on wheel 42 is located in the same diametral plane of the wheel and dial 684 as the same character on dial 68, but on the opposite side of the common axis of dial 60, wheel 42 and shaft 64. In other words, the characters are so located that when a given character on the wheel is downwardly directed, the corresponding character on the dial is directed upwardly. Therefore the character which is facing the operator on the dial will be the one which is down on the wheel, and which will print when the stamper is used. In this way all doubt as to which character will print, is eliminated. It is contemplated that the character to be observed on dial 60 might be positioned other than straight up, within the contemplation of the invention.

Hub 62 and shaft 64 may slide up and down in slotted openings 72 and 74, respectively, in walls 22 and 24 of housing 18, and a collar 76 is fixed on shaft 64 outside of wall 24 in any suitable manner to prevent inadvertent removal of the shaft and dial 60.

Dial 68 provides a series of notches 78, one for each face 70, directed toward wall 22, and whichever one is uppermost is engaged with an elongated detent 80 formed of a piece of spring wire disposed in the direction in which dial 60 will move when frame 34 is depressed by knob 52. When this occurs dial 60 may slide along detent 80, but it is prevented from turning by the engagement of notch 78 with detent 80. A screw 82 secures detent 80 in place spaced a small amount from wall 22 so that the wire may be forced out of notch 78 by an operators finger or by sufficiently forecful turning of dial 6! Wire detent 80 has a toe portion 84 slidable in a suitable opening in wall 22 to pilot the detent and prevent its rotating about screw 82.

The operation of the device is thought to be clear from the foregoing, it being apparent that various figures may be printed by pressing wheel 42 by means of knob 52, first on one of pads 8, 10 etc., and then on a piece of paper or other surface. The particular characters which will be printed can be determined by noting which character is showing in the uppermost position on dial 60, and the character may be promptly changed at will by turning dial 60 with sufiicient force to disengage detent 80.

When a character is to be inked, the color desired is decided upon and stamper 4 is placed over the appropriate pad on pad unit 6. Legs 26, 28, 30 and 32 will be fitted in the adjacent tracks as 15 and 16 and knob 52 will be pressed down. The tracks will prevent displacement of stamper 4 and insure that the'desired color is picked up by the character to be printed. If the character has just been printed in another color, the stamper is first placed over the cleaning pad, which will remove the previous color when knob 52 is pressed.

A child may use the various characters in various colors and fit them together to make abstract designs, pictures and the like, and if desired a number chart may be furnished which may act as a guide in making such designs.

Variations in the details of the invention will doubtless occur to those skilled in the art, and it is to be understood that all such variations are considered part of the invention insofar as they are defined in the claim.

What is claimed is:

A stamping toy comprising a wheel providing a plurality of stamping faces arranged in sequence about the periphery of said wheel, a plurality of printing characters, one on each of said faces, a reciprocable frame in which said wheel is journaled for rotation, means on said frame for pressing said wheel in the direction of one of said stamping faces, an outer housing in which said frame is reciprocable, means for guiding said frame for reciprocation in said housing, said housing having a lower base portion, a dial disposed outside of said housing, means connected with said dial and with said wheel effecting dependent rotation of said dial and wheel, a plurality of characters on said dial corresponding with the printing characters on said wheel, each of said characters being disposed in the diametral plane of its corresponding character on said wheel on the opposite side of the axis of said wheel, whereby any character on said wheel will be in a downwardly disposed position at the time its corresponding character on said dial is in an upwardly disposed position, said dial providing a plurality of notches adjacent said housing corresponding to the location of said characters, and an elongated detent on said housing arranged to extend in the direction of reciprocation of said frame and engaged with the uppermost notch to hold said dial and wheel in position with one of said characters on said dial uppermost and the corresponding character on said wheel in position to print upon downward reciprocation of said frame, whereby said dial may move diametrically with said wheel by sliding along said detent, and said detent being displaceable and engageable in other notches in said dial to hold said dial and wheel in position to print other of said characters.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 301,999 7/1884 Keller 101-79 602,061 4/1898 Echelberger 101-202 X 676,083 6/ 1901 Bates 101-79 1,282,173 10/1918 Besaw et al. 101-110 1,403,321 1/1922 Henry 101-110 1,727,416 9/1929 Smith 101-110 X 1,993,461 3/1935 Steigler 101-101 1,994,431 3/1935 May 101-90 2,314,828 3/1943 Humphries 101-202 X 3,157,116 11/1964 Reiner 101-110 FOREIGN PATENTS 98,485 2/ 1940 Switzerland.

WILLIAM B. PENN, Pl'ilflfll') Examiner. 

